Speaker says economy not an election issue

After a morning of fishing on Flathead Lake, U.S. House Speaker Dennis Hastert

gave an optimistic outlook for Republicans in the 2006 election, partly because of

legislation coming out of the House and partly because of the national economy.

After a morning of fishing on Flathead Lake, U.S. House Speaker Dennis Hastert gave an optimistic outlook for Republicans in the 2006 election, partly because of legislation coming out of the House and partly because of the national economy.

"I don't take the 2006 election lightly," Hastert said in a phone interview with the Inter Lake on Monday afternoon. "Just look at history, with midterm elections. The party in power usually takes a hit."

But the GOP has been successful with a legislative agenda that will be well-received by voters, he predicted.

"Our strategy, legislatively, is to pass a lot of good things," he said, ticking off examples, including class-action lawsuit reforms, bankruptcy-law reforms, a long-term highway bill and an energy bill.

"The second thing is we've got a lot of great recruits" running for congressional seats, said Hastert, who was the headliner at a weekend fund-raiser for Montana Rep. Denny Rehberg. "We're going on the offensive in a lot of areas" that have been historically been held by Democrats.

While there continues to be division over the war in Iraq, Hastert said the nation's economy is no longer a questionable political issue with nearly every indicator showing a robust economy.

"Two years ago, everybody was talking about the economy. They don't have the economy to talk about anymore," he said. "There's a war out there, and everyone has a reaction to that. I think most people understand this war is necessary, but they'd like to see it done."

Hastert did not flinch when asked about criticism, much of it coming from conservatives, that the GOP-controlled Congress and President Bush have been on a spending binge, particularly with the federal transportation bill, which entails an unprecedented $286.4 billion in spending.

Hastert said Congress ended up "holding the line" on spending within the projections for federal gas-tax revenues over the six-year term of the bill. And he said that from one congressional district to the next, the projects the bill pays for are considered important rather than wasteful.

He cites a bridge project in Ketchikan, Alaska, that has been the brunt of much criticism because the bridge leads to an unpopulated island. What critics don't mention, he said, is that the bridge provides access to an international airport.

People in that congressional district "think it's a pretty important project," he said.

The bill provided $50 million for a reconstruction project on Glacier National Park's Going-to-the-Sun Road and $30 million for a long-awaited highway bypass around Kalispell.

Hastert said the transportation bill provides considerable money for projects in and around his district in Illinois that have among the highest population growth rates in the country.

"Those folks see those things as dire needs, in order to have that kind of expansion and have transportation and people getting back and forth to work," he said.

Finally, he said, every $1 billion in spending in the transportation bill is projected to create 48,000 jobs. "It's a huge economic driver," he said.

Hastert said the debate over Social Security reform will resume when Congress goes back to work this fall.

"It all depends on what the Senate is willing to do," said Hastert, who then took a jab at Sen. Max Baucus, D-Mont. "The lead senator from this state has resisted doing anything other than raising taxes" to provide more revenue for a system with increasing beneficiaries and decreasing contributors.

When Social Security was created in 1935, it was a "cash cow for the government" with 55 workers contributing for every retiree, Hastert said. With longer life expectancies and baby boomers retiring, that ratio is now to 3.2 workers for every retiree.

"The pyramid of a lot of money coming and few people going out has been turned upside down," he said. "We'll be working on it this fall when we get back."

He also anticipates tax reform will be on the agenda in the House. Hastert said the Republican majority wants to make permanent tax rates on dividends and capital gains to provide predictability for investors.

Hastert said his personal interest and goal is to abolish the federal inheritance tax, sometimes known as the "death tax."

Another issue on the horizon: "Immigration is a huge issue for us," he said. "We have to protect our borders."

It's an issue that not only involves stopping illegal immigration, but determining how to manage illegal immigrants who are already in the country.

"That's a question that is quite frankly problematic, because I don't know exactly how to do that," he said. "We in the House expect to take up immigration reform sometime this fall."

Reporter Jim Mann may be reached at 758-4407 or by e-mail at jmann@dailyinterlake.com.